‘The Empire Strikes Back’—Kurt Kuhlmann on Why He Left Bethesda and How He Wanted to End The Elder Scrolls

Bethesda veteran Kurt Kuhlmann left the company in 2023 after two decades, citing a shift toward bureaucracy that eroded the studio’s hands-on culture.

In a rare public reflection, Kuhlmann described the changes as “a slow, rolling” transformation that left him “not super happy” with long-standing internal dynamics.

Starfield’s development, he noted, suffered from “communication breakdowns” between remote studios, where conflicting directives from leads left teams “getting a different answer than those in another” location.

This structural fragmentation, he argued, mirrored broader shifts in Bethesda’s post-Microsoft acquisition approach—moving from Todd Howard’s direct oversight to a “big business” model with multiple management layers filtering creative decisions.

Kuhlmann also revealed Howard had verbally promised him the lead design role on The Elder Scrolls 6 after Skyrim’s release, only to later inform him, “They made the decision, no, you're not going to be the lead.”

Kuhlmann had envisioned TES6 as a “The Empire Strikes Back”-style sequel, where the Thalmor would triumph and players would “secretly save the day” for Tamriel’s future—a vision he said never saw the light of day.